Revelations of a Spectre
by SerenaAveline
Summary: Commander Shepard is sent into the world of Skyrim by a blast from a malfunctioning Prothean device. Here, she finds a place much different from the worlds she had previously been to, but is she really prepared for the challenges she will face? In response to an in-class challenge from my English professor.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I do not claim credit for any characters related to The Elder Scrolls or Mass Effect games. Aveline is my original character.

**Warning to readers:** This story will contain elements of violence and death, descriptions of blood and gore, profanity, homosexuality, suggestive material and incestuous references (no lemons though). If you are offended by these subjects, I suggest that you do not read this story.

**Note: **Words in _italics_ outside of quotations indicate thoughts of characters. Dialogue starting with an asterisk and in _*italics _is in a non-existent language. This is also my first fan fiction that I've published, so please try to be constructive with any reviews. Revised due to bouncing between past and present tense.

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**Revelations of a Spectre: Chapter One**

An explosion resounded through the hills of Skyrim as a sphere of primordial energy materialized in the slopes south of a looming mountain. The aquamarine-colored energy persisted for a few seconds, before it dissipated with a burst and leaving a single prone figure in its place. The figure was a human female, wearing a hi-tech crimson suit with N7 emblazoned on the right side of the chest. She had several high-powered energy weapons, which consist of an M-76 assault rifle, M-98 Widow sniper rifle, M-5 Phalanx heavy pistol, and a Savant Omni-Tool build into her gauntlet. She also had shoulder-length crimson hair, matching the color of her armor, and glistening emerald-green eyes. Commander Eliana Shepard groaned as she sat up, closing her eyes and putting a hand on her head in the process. She stayed like that for a few seconds while taking deep breaths.

"Damn Prothean technology... Just when you think you've figured it out, it does something like this..." she muttered as she opened her eyes and stood up. She looked around briefly, taking in the environment. _This doesn't look like any planet I've ever been to. _she thought as she activated the omni-tool in her gauntlet, checking the status of her suit and armor. _Shit, the transmitter isn't functioning, though I would hope the crew on Normandy would still have a way of locating me. Tali is probably freaking out right about now... At least my armor and shields are still at full integrity._

Suddenly, she heard a distinct whooshing sound coming from her left; she glanced in its direction to see a ball of fire heading straight towards her. Reacting instinctively, she dove behind a nearby boulder, drawing her assault rifle from her back during the maneuver. After the fireball flew past the boulder, harmlessly dispersing against a distance cliff face, she peeked around the corner to identify her attackers. A small group of men and women were advancing on her position; several have the appearance of medieval warriors, wearing metal armor and wielding swords and axes. A few are wearing leather and furs, and are wielding bows with quivers of arrows strapped to their backs. Two of them, however, are only wearing robes and have no discernible weapons, but are holding some form of energy within their palms.

Shepard ducked back behind the boulder as the rangers fired a few arrows at her head. "I don't know who these people are, but all bets are off if they're attacking on sight!" she commented to herself. She began channeling Biotic energy through her body; after taking a deep breath, she dove out from behind the boulder and unleashed her built up energy on one of the robed figures. He became surrounded by a teal-colored swirling energy, which lifted him up in the air briefly before slamming him into the ground with enough force kill him instantly. Shepard simultaneously fired a few shots from her assault rifle into the head of the second robed figure; a spray of red mist erupted from her skull as she fell to the ground.

The warriors and rangers, having not expected such a sudden assault of unfamiliar attacks, had hesitated for a few seconds while Shepard downed their magic-wielding allies. Recovering from their brief shock, the warriors began to charge towards Shepard with fierce battle cries, while the rangers released a hail of arrows in her direction. Shepard quickly built up and released another burst of Biotic energy, creating a kinetic singularity between her and the rangers that diverted the arrows harmlessly into the terrain. Holstering her assault rifle and drawing an energy pistol, Shepard fired a few more shots into the chest of one of the rangers, sending the ranger flying backward from the force of the rounds; at the same time that happened, Shepard had to duck under the sword of one of the warriors, who were just reaching her. As soon as she ducked under the strike, Shepard slammed the warrior with her body, knocking him to the ground, and then punched his head, her superior strength crushing his skull. Another warrior swung his axe at her while she was still kneeling from her attack, but the axe was deflected by an energy barrier around Shepard. Caught off guard by the sudden appearance of this shield, the warrior hesitated after his attack, giving Shepard enough time to activate the energy blade in her gauntlet and decapitate him. She turned to the remaining fighters, only to see they had already been slain by another woman wielding a greatsword covered in blood.

The newcomer was slightly taller than Shepard, and yet had a more slender figure that was also more feminine. She looked rather human, though she had pointed ears and pale skin that was smoother and more flawless than natural. She had long, flowing crimson hair of a similar color Shepard's, though the red is more pronounced, and bright crimson-colored eyes on an expression that was impossible to read. Oddly enough, her pale skin seemed to show the slightest sign of a similar crimson tint. She was also clad in elegant armor, wearing metal gauntlets, boots, a skirt, and a chest-plate that revealed a decent portion of her abdomen, which was nearly perfectly smooth with no indication of muscle development. There was a second greatsword strapped to her back, and several daggers strapped to her boots and waist.

The woman sheathed her weapon and turned her gaze towards Shepard, observing her intently. Shepard held her stare, keeping her pistol trained on the mysterious woman. The staring match went on for half a minute, until the woman turned and left with no indicator as to her intentions or what she got out of it; she was out of sight within seconds. Shepard stayed alert for a few more minutes, while the adrenaline of battle drained out of her system, before she holstered her gun and scaned the horizon for a possible destination. "Where the Hell am I?" She asked to no one in particular. "If this planet only has medieval technology, how did humans get here in the first place?" Then, she noticed a fortress in the distance, south of the large mountain nearby. _Hopefully the citizens there are friendlier than this group, who probably were just a bunch of renegades... maybe they can tell me what is going on here _she thought as she started walking in the direction of the fortress in the prospect of finding some answers about her situation.

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**Author's Note:** For those wondering why Shepard never reloaded her guns: even though I'm using weapon names from Mass Effect 3, I'm going with the weapon style of Mass Effect 1 in that weapons simply overheat from consistent use rather than require ammunition.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **I don't claim any credit for characters related to Mass Effect or Skyrim. Aveline is my original character.

**Note:** Flashbacks will be in all _italics_, so anything normally in italics (characters' thoughts and dialogue in a non-existent language) will be in standard text during these sections. I apologize for the time in between chapters, but college is taking up a lot of my time, so I probably won't post very often. Revised dialogue between Shepard and Aveline to clarify some ambiquity. Also, for those wondering about Shepard's class, she is both an adept and a soldier, with all the weapon proficiencies of a soldier and all the Biotics of an adept.

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_"Keelah..." Tali'Zorah whispered as she stared up at the massive construct before her. The pillar, while aesthetically Prothean in design, seemed somewhat unusual for a Prothean device. The pillar stood well over six hundred meters tall, and yet it wasn't even completely unearthed yet. It appeared to be a massive light-brown stone with intricate, curving indigo-colored lines weaving across its entire surface._

_Shepard, after recovering from her own awestruck paralysis, turned to Liara. "Liara, scan this thing and see if there's any way to tell what it does, or if it has any useful data."_

_"Will do, Shepard." Liara responded as she walked up to the device and began scanning a circle among the patterns that appeared to be a conduit of some sort. She gave a slight exclamation. "Shepard, this is very unusual. Even though the pillar appears to be inactive, my Omni-tool is reading massive levels of energy, beyond its capacity to detect in fact." Tali came over and looked at her scan results._

_"Keelah! That stone pillar is giving off more energy than the element zero drive core on the Normandy!"_

_Shepard looked at the two of them in bewilderment. "If this thing is giving off such massive levels of energy, then how the Hell has no one on Earth noticed it until now?"_

_Tali turned to Shepard. "Maybe the pillar was not here before. But if that's the case, then who put it here?"_

_Before either Shepard or Liara could respond to Tali, a bright-blue light suddenly flew up the length of the indigo patterns on the pillar, instantly capturing their attention. Then, the pillar gave a burst of energy, disintegrating all the dirt and dust on its surface, revealing the pillar was actually a perfectly smooth stone of a light amethyst color, which was now glowing with energy. The stone inexplicably floated up in the air, and fragmented into multiple pieces, sections floating around in an incomprehensible pattern, until they settled into a large circular pattern around a massive, flat stone._

_After staring at the device in shock for a couple of minutes, Liara was the first to speak._

_"It looks like... an interface of some sort."_

_"_*Database activated and fully intact. Approach the user interface to gain access to the archives."

_Shepard raised an eyebrow. "Did anyone understand what that thing just said?"_

_Liara responded, "No, but with how old this device probably is, that comes as no surprise. But, Shepard, if it is speaking in Prothean, shouldn't you be able to understand it, since you have the Cipher?"_

_"You're right..." Shepard replied as she walked into the center of the device. "So, what are you? Are you able to speak in our language?" she tried in the prospect that it might function like the VI on Ilos._

"*User unrecognized; analyzing identity. Mortal human female, approximately .00027 Cycles in age, conceived within an interstellar traveling machine. Primary affiliation with inhabitants of the planet Terra orbiting the star Sol. _Human, you are currently unauthorized to access this database. Redirecting to nearest authorized user." Before any of them were able to respond to the sudden use of the humans' native dialect, an amethyst-colored energy surge built up within the device, then shot straight towards Shepard._

_"Shepard!" The others exclaimed in unison as Shepard's body was engulfed by the glowing energy, and when it dissipated a couple of seconds later, she was gone._

* * *

Eliana Shepard shivered as she walked through the front gates of the fortress she had seen the day before; it had taken her all through the night and a few hours into morning to reach the place. _I swear, this place is as cold as Noveria,_ she thought as she looked around. There didn't seem to be anyone in the place. _Hell, they're probably still inside. With weather this-_

A roar in the distance cut off her train of thought. _What the Hell was that?_

"For the love of Talos, shut up and let's get this over with!" A man's voice cried out.

"As you wish." A female voice responded. Shepard started walking in the direction the voices were coming from, and came across a group of people, some bound, others not, all gathered around a bloodied wooden block. _What is going on here?_ She noticed a hooded man with a large axe standing next to the block. _An execution,_ Shepard realized.

"Come on, I haven't got all morning!" The man who yelled out earlier spoke. A female in armor leaned him over the chopping block as the hooded man raised his axe. "My ancestors are smiling at me, Imperials. Can you say the same?" Those were his last words before the axe came down and decapitated him.

"You Imperial bastards!" A female voice cried out.

"Justice!" Another man's voice yelled. Shepard began slowly backing away from the scene before her. _It's probably best if I just don't get involved,_ she concluded.

"Death to the Stormcloaks!" A second irate female called out.

"As fearless in life as he was in death." One of the bound men muttered.

"Next prisoner!" The armored female directing the execution called.

Another roar sounded in the distance. The gathered people looked up towards the sky, confused.

"There it is again. Did you hear that?" A man stated. The female in charge opened her mouth to speak again, but then she noticed Shepard. She drew her sword and pointed it at her.

"Halt! Who goes there?!" She yelled as several archers readied their bows and arrows and pointed them at her. Shepard instinctively drew her pistol.

_Is it something about my armor being different that automatically makes me a target? _she wondered. Another roar cut them off, this one closer than the others.

"What is Oblivion is that?!" A male voice cried out.

"Sentries! What do you see?" The female in charge inquired.

"It's in the cloud!" Another man's voice cried.

Suddenly, a massive winged beast with an ebony-colored hide landed on top of a nearby tower with a large thud, causing the ground to shake.

"Dragon!"

Shepard looked up at the beast; it was staring right at her. Uncertainty rooted Shepard in that spot, and the two held their gazes for several seconds. Suddenly, the dragon opened its mouth and a loud blast of sound erupted from his maw, one similar to thunder. Clouds suddenly materialized overhead, and fireballs began raining down from the sky. Another shout from the dragon, and this time a ball of energy flew at Shepard, striking her before she could avoid it and severely disorienting her. The dragon then took off into the sky.

It took a few seconds for Shepard to regain her senses, but other than that she was relatively unharmed. She looked up into the sky and saw the dragon flying around, attacking people seemingly at random. The archers around the fortress were shooting arrows up at the beast, and a few were shooting lightning from their hands. None of their missiles hit the beast.

_But I'm one up on technology,_ Shepard smirked as she aimed her pistol at the dragon, and then fired several shots into the beast's chest. However, the shots ricocheted off its hide like they were nothing. Shepard hesitated, astonished that her shots had no effect, then switched to her assault rifle and drilled the dragon with rounds until the weapon overheated. There still was no evidence of damage to the beast.

Shepard began to feel a hint of fear. _Even thresher maws and harvesters didn't resist my bullets _that_ thoroughly!_

"Come on, woman! This is our only chance" A male voice yelled nearby. She looked in the direction she heard it from, and saw one of the men that were bound beckoning her towards a tower. He had chainmail armor with blue cloth over it, and dirty blonde hair. _I might as well,_ she thought. _It's not like my weapons are helping at all._ In one last attempt to harm it, she sent a Biotic Warp at the dragon, but it had no apparent effect when it collided with the dragon. _Damn. It was worth a shot._ She ran into the tower the man had indicated.

"Jarl Ulfric!" The man called as he walked in behind her. "What is that thing?! Could the legends be true?"

The man he was addressing turn towards him and answered coolly, "Legends don't burn down villages."

"Either way, it would be best if we kept moving." A woman to Shepard's right spoke. Shepard glanced in her direction, and did a double-take: she was the same woman Shepard saw in the fields the day before. _She wasn't among those at the execution, so why is she here?_

"Wait!" Shepard called to the woman as she turned towards the stairs. "Who are you, exactly?"

The woman turned back towards Shepard, while everyone else listened in; none of the others had seen the woman before either, and were just as curious about her identity as Shepard was. "My name is Aveline. I'm new in Skyrim." Her voice was rich and almost mystic, with a soft peal in its tone. Aveline glanced at the others, then returned her gaze to Shepard. "I came to this hold for a respite from my adventures, and was curious about what was going on, much like yourself. However, we really should get moving; staying in a town being demolished by a dragon doesn't strike me as a good idea." With that, she turned and began running up the stairs. The rest of those gathered in the room began to follow suit.

_Skyrim? So that's the name of this place?_ Shepard thought. _I'll figure this out later when a dragon isn't threatening our lives._ She followed the others up the spiral staircase. She quickly caught up to the others, and on their way up, a large blast sounded as the wall exploded near an unfortunate man; the dragon poked its head in the hole as blasted the man with a torrent of fire. After a few seconds, the dragon stopped and took off again.

Aveline was nowhere to be seen; she must have gotten further up the tower before the way up the stairs were blocked off. The blond-haired man was standing next to the hole. "I'll see you again on the other side. Jump through the roof and keep moving. Go! We'll follow when we can."

Shepard looked out the hole; the distance to the nearby building wasn't too significant, so she jumped down and landed on the second story of the burning building. She swiftly moved through the building and dropped to ground level.

Upon running outside, Shepard encountered a few men wearing the same style of armor as those overseeing the execution. One of the men, whom she had seen standing near the chopping block, was beckoning towards a small boy next to a burning building. The dragon landed right behind the boy as he began running towards the man; Shepard gasped in fear for the child. However, rather than killing the child, the dragon began incinerating a body on the ground.

"Gods! Everyone get back!" the man yelled once the boy reached him, retreating behind the building as well. The dragon quickly finished burning the body, then took off for the sky. He looked at Shepard. "Still alive, are you? Keep close to me if you want to stay that way!" Shepard scoffed at that, but she followed him anyway as he began running. "Torolf! Take care of the boy. I have to find General Tulius and join the defense." He began running, but Shepard hesitated for a second. _Well, it's better than just standing around,_ she thought as she followed him. "Stay near the wall!" he yelled; the dragon landed on the wall he was indicating a couple of seconds later. The dragon incinerated another man with a torrent of fire, then took off again.

After another minute of running, the two reached a courtyard in front of a central building. Both Aveline and the dirty-blonde man Shepard had seen back at the tower were crossing the courtyard.

"Ralof! You damned traitor! Out of my way!" The man beside her yelled as the two also crossed the field.

"We're escaping, Hadvar! You're not stopping us this time!" Ralof replied.

"Fine! I hope that dragon takes you all to Sovengard!" Hadvar retorted. He then proceeded to one of the entrances to the central building, while Aveline and Ralof ran towards one of the side entrances. Both of the men were calling for Shepard to follow them.

Shepard hesitated for a second, and glanced at Hadvar_. __His group was instantly hostile towards me; the others are much friendly than he probably is. _She thought as she approached the same entrance Ralof had just entered.

As she entered through the doors, she spotted Ralof in a room kneeling next to a body wearing the same armor as Ralof is, checking his pulse. Aveline was leaning against the table. After a moment, Ralof sighed and stood up, muttering "we'll meet again in Sovengard, brother." He then turned towards the other two. "Looks like we're the only ones who made it." He then walked towards a gate, but suddenly drew his axe and crouched behind the wall next to it. "Imperials! Get down!" He yelled. Shepard just looked at him briefly, then crouched behind him and drew her pistol. Aveline had mysteriously disappeared. _How did she do that? She was _just_ there! _Shepard Imperials opened the gate and, upon spotting Ralof and Shepard, drew their weapons and yelled, "Stormcloaks!" Ralof rose to attack them, but Shepard dispatched both of them with her pistol before he even got a single strike in.

Ralof turned and stared at her pistol for a few seconds. "What kind of weapon is that?" He inquired. Aveline materialized behind him, a spell of invisibility wearing off; she had a pair of daggers in her hands. _Infiltrator_ was Shepard's immediate thought.

Shepard stared at Aveline for a couple of seconds, before she holstered her weapon and replied "it's what my people call a gun. A weapon that apparently isn't used here in... Skyrim, is it?"

"The province of Skyrim, in the land of Tamriel." Aveline replied in her soft and elegant voice. "This fortress is known as Helgen." Aveline sheathed her daggers in the sides of her boots and crossed her arms. "So... What's your name?"

"My name is Shepard. Commander Eliana Shepard." Aveline nodded her head slightly in acknowledgement.

"I'm Ralof, but if you don't mind, we should get moving." Ralof stated, then walked up to a nearby gate, and attempted to open it. "Damn, it's locked. See if either of those Imperials have a key."

"No need, I can pick the lock." Aveline stated, walking up to the gate. She crouched down and fumbled with the lock for a couple of seconds, then a click sounded as the gate swung open. "Let's go." With that, she started down the staircase beyond the opened gate. Ralof followed suit, and after a moment's hesitation, Shepard followed as well. _What have I gotten myself into?_

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**A/N:** That concludes the second installment of this story! Again, please review and tell me any improvements I can make on my writing, and please tell me any errors you spot, it really helps me spot them in the future :) Also, for those wondering why Shepard's attacks had no effect on Alduin, I'm making him far more powerful than he was in the vanilla game (the other dragons won't be so impervious).


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** I don't claim any credit for characters related to Mass Effect or Skyrim. Aveline is my original character.

* * *

"So, Aveline, are you a vampire or something?" Ralof asked in regard to her appearance as they turned down a hallway at the bottom of the spiral stairs. Suddenly, a loud crash sounded, and the ceiling collapsed in front of them. The three of them stopped before they ran into the pile of rubble. Ralof looked up at the ceiling. "That dragon doesn't give up easy, does it?"

Aveline glanced at Ralof. "It's a dragon, what do you expect?" She replied. "And no, I'm not a vampire; I was born like this."

Shepard said nothing, but walked forward and opened a door to the side of the passageway. Best to just go with it and question things later. The door led to a storeroom, where a few Imperials were gathered around a few barrels; the one in front was attempting to open the barrel. They turned towards Shepard, Ralof, and Aveline, then drew their weapons and charged. Shepard didn't even bother drawing her gun; she let the first soldier's strike be deflected by her armor's shields, then stabbed him in the chest with her Omni-blade. Ralof parried a few strikes from the second Imperial, then decapitated him. Aveline vanished in a puff of red smoke and reappeared behind the last Imperial, catching him off-guard, and eviscerated him with one of her daggers.

"See if you can find any potions; we may need them." Ralof stated as he sheathed his weapon and moved towards the door on the other side of the room. Aveline walked over to the barrel the Imperials were attempting to open, and simply lifted the lid off. Shepard had to hide a small laugh at this. Aveline pulled a few red and blue potions out, then turned to Shepard.

"Your gauntlet, it made a blade materialize out of nothing. Can it store other objects in the same way?" Aveline inquired. Shepard nodded. "Then take these; they may come in handy." With that, Aveline tossed the potions to Shepard, who barely managed to catch them without dropping any of them. Shepard activated her Omni-tool and stored the potions. Aveline began to walk towards the door, then stopped and turned back towards Shepard. "By the way, the red potions are for healing, and the blue potions restore magical energy." Aveline stated. Shepard glanced at the shelves.

"What about the green ones?" Shepard asked.

"Those restore your physical stamina. Grab them if you wish." Aveline turned and walked over to Ralof. Shepard grabbed a couple stamina potions and stored them in her Omni-tool, then joined the other two.

"Finished? Let's get moving." Ralof said in an exasperated tone. He turned towards the door and opened it, walking through. Aveline and Shepard glanced at each other, then turned and followed him. They soon came upon what looked like a torture chamber, where two Imperials were already engaged in combat with a couple Stormcloaks. With arrival of the three warriors, the Imperials didn't stand a chance. Ralof sheathed his weapons after the battle then conversed briefly with the Stormcloaks. While they spoke, Aveline turned towards Shepard and held out a handful of lock-picks, as well as a blunt knife.

"I know your 'guns' could probably break any lock, but if you ever need stealth, these will get you through a lock much quieter." Aveline stated. Shepard pondered for a few seconds. _I don't know why I would need stealth; nothing here so far has even been able to get past my armor's shields... However, I suppose I should use some discretion._ Once Shepard took the offered lock-picks, Aveline walked over to a cage with a robed corpse in it and examined the latch. "This lock doesn't seem very complex, so try your hand at picking it. Use the lock-picks to push the pins inside the lock, then use the blunt knife to turn it." Shepard complied, and managed to make her first lock-pick snap into two pieces. However, after a couple tries, a click could be heard, and the cage door swung open. Next to the corpse, Shepard could spot a small pile of gold coins, a blue potion, and a battered book.

"I'll take these." Shepard stated as she grabbed the coins and the magic potion. She began to walk off, but a hand on her shoulder stopped her. Shepard turned, and Aveline held the book that was in the cage out to her.

"Here: this is a spell tome. This one in particular deals with novice-level lightning magic. You should read these as you find them and learn some spells; you might find them useful. Not now, though. We need to get moving." Aveline stated. A rumble from above emphasized her point. Shepard nodded, and together, the two of them joined Ralof and the other Stormcloaks in their escape. _Just go with it, Shepard_. She thought to herself as they ran down a hallway.

* * *

After fighting through more Imperials, getting separated from most of the Stormcloaks, fighting giant spiders, and sneaking past a slumbering bear, the three emerge outside on the hills of Skyrim. Shepard, Ralof, and Aveline stopped several paces from the exit of the cavern. Before any of them said a word, however, a roar of a dragon sounded across the landscape.

"Get down!" Ralof yelled, crouching next to a large rock. Shepard crouched down next to him, and Aveline had vanished with another invisibility spell. The dragon flew overhead, and slowly disappeared into the horizon with no sign of turning around.

"I guess he's gone for good this time." Ralof stated as he stood up. He turned towards Shepard. "Looks like we're the only ones who made it."

Aveline materialized next to the two of them. "I guess we can breathe a little easier for now. C'mon, we should go."

"My sister lives in Riverwood nearby, we should go there first."

"Now just wait a damn minute!" Shepard yelled. The other two turned towards her. "Now that the immediate danger has passed, I want some answers. First of all, what is going on between these so-called 'Imperials' and 'Stormcloaks', and why were they ready to kill me when I just got here?"

"The Imperials are traitors who are little more than puppets to the damned Thalmor elves. The Stormcloaks are the followers of Jarl Ulfric Stormcloak of Windhelm, true high king of Skyrim!" Ralof announced with pride, while Aveline rolled her eyes and leaned against a nearby tree, crossing her arms. Shepard just stared at Ralof for a couple of seconds.

"Right... Also, this dragon. You and the others spoke of it as though it were a legend that shouldn't actually exist, but if that's so, where did the dragon come from?" Shepard asked.

"I know about as much as you do about that." Ralof responded. Shepard then turned to Aveline.

"You keep speaking of 'magic' and 'spells', and using them, which is confusing in and of itself, and then you hand me this!" Shepard yelled the last part as she pulled out the spell tome Aveline handed her earlier. "How the Hell am I supposed to know what to do with this?!"

Aveline raised one of her eyebrows. "You read it... You do know how to read, right?" She inquired.

"Don't insult me, of course I can read!" Shepard snapped in response, offended. "But that's irrelevant! As far as I know, magic shouldn't exist!"

Aveline stared at her with a pointed expression. "'Shouldn't exist'? If I recall correctly, after you used your weapons on that dragon, you threw a ball of energy at it. Was that not a form of magic?"

"That's different; those are Biotics, a method that certain people and races where I come from use to manipulate kinetic energy." Shepard replied.

Aveline shrugged. "Sounds like a basic form of magic to me. Think of the spells here as a more advanced form of 'Biotics', as you call it." Aveline stepped away from the tree she was leaning against and took the spell tome from Shepard, opened it to a certain page, read it for a few seconds, then handed it back. "We should get going; it will be nightfall soon, and we'll need a good spot to make camp. We should be able to reach Riverwood by tomorrow afternoon. In the mean time, Elaina, I suggest you read the page I opened for you. That spell, called 'Sparks', will allow you to shoot a constant stream of weak lightning from your hands... So long as you have the magic energy to sustain it, that is. Now," Aveline stated while crossing her arms again. " Before we go, I have a question for _you_. When we made introductions, you referred to yourself as 'Commander Elaina Shepard'. Commander of what, might I ask?"

"I was wondering the same thing, actually." Ralof added.

Shepard was about to respond, but a thought occurred to her. They probably have no idea what the Alliance, or anything from my world for that matter, even is. "I'm from a different world, as you may or may not know; anyway, I'm a military leader and a hero where I come from-" The true predicament of her situation dawned upon her just then._ It might be a while before I can go back, if ever. Tali, Liara, all the others... they were depending upon me to help them stop the Reaper invasion... I hope they can manage without me..._ A tear streaked down her cheek as she closed her eyes.

"Are you alright?" Aveline asked with a look of concern on her face.

Shepard wiped her eyes. "I'm fine; we should get moving." Without waiting for the other two to respond, she began walking along the path nearby.

Aveline followed her, though she seemed to be keeping an eye on Shepard as they walked.

Ralof just stood there for a few seconds, trying to figure out exactly what just happened. With a jolt, he realized that he was being left behind, and ran to catch up to the other two. "Wait!" He yelled as he caught up to them. "Do you even know where you're going?!"

* * *

**A/N:** Another month, another chapter. Terrible. I apologize to anyone going through the time and effort to read through this story as I have no idea where I'm going with this. That's what I get for starting a fanfic with a spur-of-the-moment snip, I suppose. Also, yeah, I just made Skyrim larger than it is. I like epic quests to have worlds of epic proportions. Also, thanks for reviewing! The input has already helped me improve my writing.


End file.
